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FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a reform of France's constitution and announced he would set up a commission to study ways to modernise rather than revolutionise the French state.
Repeatedly evoking the spirit of former President Charles de Gaulle, Sarkozy said French presidents should be
allowed to address the national parliament and suggested introducing an element of proportional representation in elections.
He also said famously opaque presidential spending should be scrutinised by the national state auditor.
"I want the president to govern and be held more to account," Sarkozy said in a speech in this northeastern town, where 61 years ago de Gaulle also delivered a keynote speech demanding that the presidency be handed more powers.
Months later the French voted down his proposals in a referendum and his project was not realised for another decade.
Sarkozy said on Thursday a commission of constitutional experts and political heavyweights would be tasked with drawing up a reform plan.
The committee will be headed by a close ally, former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, and will report back by Nov. 1.
Sarkozy said he hoped leading leftists would also take part despite an edict from the opposition Socialists warning that members would be suspended from the party if they co-operated.
Socialist leaders say the reform should be discussed by a regular parliamentary commission. Any change to the constitution will eventually need the backing of the opposition bloc if it is eventually to pass.
Sarkozy made clear he did not want to establish a new political order in France, but said the existing institutions of the 49-year-old Fifth Republic needed revising.
"I wouldn't change the main equilibrium of our institutions. I wouldn't turn the page on the Fifth Republic," he said.
The Fifth Republic, created during the Algerian colonial war that paralysed the Fourth Republic's parliamentary system, is a "republican monarchy" based on a powerful presidency, a submissive legislature and a centralised state.
Sarkozy said he was against the idea of adopting a US-style presidency, saying it was important for the French head of state to represent the entire nation rather than a single political faction.
"I think France is not ready for this evolution and that there aren't the conditions for such a system to work properly here," he said.
But to make the presidency more accountable, Sarkozy said the head of state should be able to address parliament "at least once a year". He also proposed limiting the job to just two, five-year mandates. Presidents can currently serve indefinitely.
"I think that the energy one puts into lasting a long time is not put into doing things. I was elected to do things, not to last a long time," he told his audience.
- REUTERS